A variety of medical devices are used for chronic, i.e., long-term, delivery of fluid therapy to patients suffering from a variety of conditions, such as chronic pain, tremor, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, urinary or fecal incontinence, sexual dysfunction, obesity, spasticity, or gastroparesis. For example, pumps or other fluid delivery devices can be used for chronic delivery of therapeutic fluids, such as drugs to patients. These devices are intended to provide a patient with a therapeutic output to alleviate or assist with a variety of conditions. Typically, such devices are implanted in a patient and provide a therapeutic output under specified conditions on a recurring basis.
One type of implantable fluid delivery device is a drug infusion device that can deliver a drug or other therapeutic fluid to a patient at a selected site. A drug infusion device may be partially or completely implanted at a location in the body of a patient and deliver a fluid medication through a catheter to a selected delivery site in the body. Drug infusion devices, such as implantable drug pumps, commonly include a reservoir for holding a supply of the therapeutic fluid, such as a drug, for delivery to a site in the patient. The fluid reservoir can be self-sealing and accessible through one or more ports. A pump is fluidly coupled to the reservoir for delivering the therapeutic fluid to the patient. A catheter provides a pathway for delivering the therapeutic fluid from the pump to the delivery site in the patient.